Members of the Beirut municipality police on their bicycles patrol the empty roads in the coastal area of Beirut
BEIRUT - A general lockdown went into effect across Lebanon on Thursday and will continue until the morning of January 25, with a strict 24-hour curfew imposed for the first time in a rigid way since the start of the pandemic. Supermarkets and other food shops can only operate with home delivery, with customers not allowed to enter the facilities.
Anyone who wants to leave their home has to demonstrate an urgent need to travel to another location, but without a written self-certification.
Members of the military, police, doctors, and journalists are among the few categories exempt from the measures.
Since last February through now, Lebanon has had 1,740 confirmed Covid deaths and 231,000 positive cases, although experts said these figures are on the low side compared to the health emergency underway in the country.
According to official sources, of the 784 intensive care beds in a country with a population of more than five million residents, 627 are currently occupied.
